Non-Resident Buyer Calculator

What this calculator does

Buying Canadian property without Canadian citizenship or permanent residence involves three separate questions that are usually run together and answered wrongly as a result: whether you are permitted to buy at all, what the foreign-buyer surcharge adds to your closing, and which annual taxes follow you for as long as you own the place.

They do not move together. A work permit holder living in Toronto may be entirely free to buy and still owe a quarter of the price in speculation tax. Someone buying from abroad may face a purchase prohibition and, if an exception reaches them, a very ordinary annual tax bill. The page separates the three because conflating them is how people end up either abandoning a purchase they could have made or arriving at a closing several hundred thousand dollars short.

Every rule here is a recent policy instrument rather than a settled convention. Each has been amended at least once since it was introduced, and one of them is legislated to expire. The review date is stated on the page for that reason.

• Whether the federal prohibition reaches you, and what its exceptions turn on
• The Ontario speculation tax or BC surcharge, against your ordinary land transfer tax
• What a lender will actually want down — which is not the same as what the law requires
• The vacancy taxes, and the occupancy that generally switches them off
• Withholding on rental income, which is charged on gross rent rather than profit

The restriction has an end date

The federal prohibition on purchases of residential property by non-Canadians came into force at the start of 2023 for a fixed term, and was extended once before that term expired. It is currently scheduled to lapse on 1 January 2027.

That matters more than almost anything else on this page. A calculator that answers "you may not buy" without saying the restriction is time-limited has given a permanent-sounding answer to a temporary question, and someone may abandon a plan that would be perfectly workable a few months later. It has also been extended once, so the date is not a promise either. What it is, is a date to check.

The prohibition is also narrower than its reputation. It does not reach property outside a census metropolitan or agglomeration area, which covers a great deal of the country. It does not reach a building with four or more dwelling units at all. And it carries express exceptions for refugees and protected persons, for many work permit holders, and for a non-Canadian buying jointly with a citizen or permanent resident spouse.

• In force from the start of 2023, extended once, scheduled to lapse 1 January 2027
• Confirm the current position — the date has already moved once
• Property outside a census metropolitan or agglomeration area is not covered
• A building with four or more dwelling units is not covered
• Protected persons, many work permit holders and non-Canadian spouses have exceptions

The speculation tax is the largest number here

Ontario charges its Non-Resident Speculation Tax at 25% of the price, across the whole province. On a $1,150,000 purchase that is $287,500 — about seven and a half times the entire land transfer tax, provincial and municipal combined. British Columbia charges 20% inside designated regions and nothing outside them.

It is payable in cash at registration and no lender will finance it. That is what makes it dangerous rather than merely expensive: it does not reduce how much you can borrow, it increases how much cash you must have on the day, and it sits alongside a down payment rather than inside it.

Ontario has moved this tax three times in five years — 15% in the Greater Golden Horseshoe, then 20% province-wide, then 25%. A figure you read a year ago is not reliable, and neither is this one without checking.

There is also a route back. A rebate has been available where a foreign national becomes a permanent resident within a set period after buying and the property is their principal residence. For a work permit holder on a path to permanent residence that is potentially the entire surcharge returned — the largest single number on the page. It is claimed rather than granted, on a deadline, and it is missed often.

• Ontario: 25% of the price, province-wide, cash at registration
• British Columbia: 20%, but only inside designated regions
• No lender finances it — it adds to your cash, not to your mortgage
• Ontario has changed the rate or the scope three times in five years
• A permanent-residence rebate may return the whole amount, if claimed in time

Vacancy taxes are about empty homes, not foreign owners

This is the part most often modelled wrongly, including by the calculator this page was built from. The federal Underused Housing Tax, Toronto’s Vacant Home Tax and British Columbia’s Speculation and Vacancy Tax all exist to penalise homes that sit empty. Every one of them exempts a property you live in or rent out long term at arm’s length.

Treating "not your principal residence" as though it meant "vacant" charges a landlord for taxes a tenanted home does not owe. On the figures here that mistake bills roughly $32,900 a year — about six and a half times the actual property tax — to someone whose property is fully rented. Occupancy is by far the largest annual lever a foreign owner controls, and it is worth understanding precisely.

What does not go away with the exemption is the filing. These are self-reporting regimes: an owner in scope files an annual return whether or not any tax is owing, the penalties are flat amounts unrelated to the tax, and a missed Toronto declaration can deem the home vacant and bill you as though it were. A work permit holder living in their own condo owes nothing and must still file — which is exactly the person least likely to know it.

Toronto’s rate is set by council annually and has already been increased since the tax was introduced. Confirm the current year’s figure rather than carrying forward the one you saw last.

• All three taxes exempt a home you live in or genuinely rent long term
• A tenanted rental is not a vacant home, and should not be taxed as one
• The annual return is required even when no tax is owing
• A missed Toronto declaration can deem an occupied home vacant
• Toronto’s rate is set annually and has risen since introduction — check it

What a lender wants, and what the law requires

Most Canadian lenders want 35% down from a buyer living abroad. That is lender policy, not legislation, and the distinction is worth money. There is no statutory minimum at that level, lenders differ considerably, and a broker who places non-resident files regularly will know which ones to approach.

It also does not follow from tax status. A work permit holder living and earning in Canada is generally underwritten on ordinary terms — the statutory minimum down payment, ordinary qualification — while still being charged the full foreign-buyer speculation tax at closing. On a $1,150,000 purchase the statutory minimum is $90,000; assuming the 35% applies to everyone who is not a citizen or permanent resident asks for $402,500 instead, overstating the cash needed by $312,500. That is more than three times the down payment actually required, and it is enough to talk somebody out of a purchase they could comfortably make.

What genuinely does get harder without Canadian history is documentation: income earned abroad, credit established elsewhere, and funds arriving from outside the country all take longer to satisfy a lender than the equivalent Canadian paperwork. Start earlier than you think you need to.

• 35% down is lender convention for a buyer abroad, not a legal minimum
• Lenders differ, so it is worth shopping rather than assuming
• A work permit holder in Canada is usually underwritten on ordinary terms
• Foreign income, foreign credit and incoming funds all take longer to document
• The speculation tax applies regardless of how the mortgage is underwritten

Renting it out: withholding is on gross rent

A non-resident’s Canadian rental income is subject to withholding at 25%, and the part that surprises people is the base: it is charged on the gross rent, not on the profit. Your Canadian agent remits it monthly before anything reaches you, and it takes no account of the mortgage interest, the property tax or the condo fees you are paying out of that same rent.

On $4,200 a month that is $1,050 withheld every month, $12,600 a year, on a property that may well be running at a thin margin or a loss once financing is counted. Plenty of non-resident landlords discover this after the first remittance rather than before the purchase.

The fix exists and is well established: filing an NR6 election lets the withholding apply to net rent instead. It has to be filed before the first rent of the year, and on a mortgaged property it is very often the difference between a workable rental and an unworkable one. It is the single most valuable piece of administration a non-resident landlord does.

• 25% withheld on gross rent, remitted monthly by your Canadian agent
• It ignores mortgage interest, property tax and condo fees entirely
• On $4,200 a month that is $12,600 a year taken before you see it
• An NR6 election moves the withholding onto net rent instead
• The NR6 must be filed before the first rent of the year — the deadline is real

Using your results well

Settle eligibility before you price anything. It is the only question on this page where the answer might be that there is nothing to price, and it is the one where a stale answer does the most harm in both directions.

Then budget the surcharge as cash rather than as a cost. It does not reduce your borrowing power; it sits next to your down payment and has to be found on the same day. Someone who has planned for a down payment and a land transfer tax, and not for a quarter of the price on top, does not close.

Take this to a Canadian real estate lawyer early — earlier than a domestic buyer would. Exemptions from the prohibition and from the speculation tax are claimed at registration and documented in advance; they are not applied for you. And if you are on a path to permanent residence, ask specifically about the speculation tax rebate before you close, not after.

• Answer the eligibility question first, and confirm the date it turns on
• Treat the surcharge as closing cash, never as something a lender will cover
• Instruct a lawyer earlier than a domestic purchase would need one
• Exemptions are claimed and documented, not applied automatically
• Ask about the permanent-residence rebate before closing, not afterwards